mac66

Used to be into cigars. Bought cubans on cruises 20-30 years ago. Things got crazy with them which is why I quit smoking cigars about 10 years ago. Still get the cravings for a fine cigar but it passes.

Cruise lines don't care or check what your meds are in. Not sure TSA does either. My daily pill organizer has never been checked.

Google Rainforest Adventures in St. Maarten, Fantastic zip lining, slide. Do the whole thing. Catch a cab early before the cruise ship buses show up. Not offered by Royal but others. Be back by noon and enjoy the beach afterwards. You can see the whole island from the top of the mountain. Great time particularly if you have kids. Makes the zip line in Labadee look lame in comparison..

I had a dive booked through the ship in St. Thomas jn February, Fully expected that one to be canceled but it was not. No ship dive offered in St. Maarten though. I had dived through the ship in SM a couple years ago. Had two ship dives booked in March, one in St. Croix, one in St. Kitts. Both were canceled inexplicably and without notice. They simply disappeared off my cruise planner. Had some other dives planned privately (originally scheduled 2 years ago) who went out of business during covid. I'm guessing that by next December things will have loosened up and your dive(s) may be reinstated. A lot of dive operators went out of business so the cruise lines are struggling to find opps who meet their standards. That doesn't explain Buddy's dive in Bonair however. It may just be BDs just didn't want to depend on the cruise ships anymore. Bottom line is that nobody knows what's going on with cruise ship diving. As far as diving through the ship vs. a private operator, I've done both. When I dived in St. Maarten a couple years ago I met a guy while getting off the ship. He was walking the same direction as I and was going diving. We ended up at the same dive place. I had booked privately, he had booked through the ship. My dive was $10 cheaper and they put me on a boat with 5 other people, all staying on the island. They put him on a boat with 12 other cruise ship passengers from various ships. Booked privately in St. Croix and St. Kitts when the ship dives were canceled. Diving through the ship in Roatan is always Anthony's Key. We booked a private op two years ago (pre covid) because we wanted some snorkelers to go with us, something AK doesn't do. That company was out of business. We booked a different company. We had 4 divers and 2 snorkelers in our group and had the boat to ourselves. In Nassau you have to dive through the ship. Diving is on the other side of the island and no dive operators will book you. Stuarts Cove who all cruise ships use is the only provider. It was a cattle boat (lots of people) but a good dive. About half were staying on the island, half from various ships. The ship's dive instructor dived with us. In St. Thomas in February I booked through the ship. The ship rep/instructor walked 4 of us to the dive boat which was docked close by. There were 4 other people diving from the island. In that case the ship's dive instructor stayed on board when we went into the water. In Cozumel I always book privately. Dive operators are cheaper and fairly close to the port, easy to get to. I've dived twice In Costa Maya, once privately, once through the ship. Getting out of the port complex is a PITA and dive ops are a ways away. Just easier to book through the ship. I've dived in Aruba and Curacao both privately. Didn't dive when we were in Bonaire but it's on the list.

I usually get three lobster tails on lobster night. I don't get lobster at home so I go all out on cruises. My wife ordered lamb chops on lobster night and gave me one. They were so good we ordered another and split them. I don't eat desert (on keto) but occasionally my wife will order another desert if she doesn't like the first one.

There is no flagging. They don't match the people going through security with what is on the x-ray conveyor belt. So conceivably as long as you look like you're not together they won't/don't know who's in what cabin. And an FYI-Forgive me if this a taboo subject but on our last cruise there seemed to be a change in policy. We were able to buy bottles of booze in the ship's store (second day) and immediately take them back to our cabin. On another cruise we were allowed to bring bottles of booze back from our first port stop (3rd day of a 12 day cruise) and they weren't confiscated. In the past booze bought on board or in port was held until the last day. We could have tapped into any or all of them in our cabin. If that change in policy remains true it might alter the way we drink on board.

I can't say never, but we rarely have a problem flying in/out of FL, though Miami/ Ft. Lauderdale is sometimes a pain. Prefer Orlando, Tampa. And...we've gotten pretty good at minimizing to carry-ons for 7 day cruises. Usually fly Delta and they usually allow carry-ons to be checked at the gate free. That means last loaded, first off. Our COs are usually the first off the plane, no waiting.

Another thing to consider is that cruise lines have modified their BYOB policies. On our last cruise we picked up a couple bottles of infused vodka at the first port stop at the request of some friends. It is only available on certain islands. We walked back on board with the bottles in hand. No confiscation. We could have tapped into them if we wanted. The cruise before we bought a couple bottles of bourbon on board the second day. They let us take it back to our cabin. Again, we could have tapped into them to supplement our D vouchers. Never occurred to us at the time but maybe in the future. And of course there are always Rum Runners or airline sized minis that are easy to bring aboard if one is so inclined.

One thing about the drink package....it makes you want to drink. We stuck to our diamond vouchers last Dec, no problem. Was recently on an Celebrity cruise where the drink package was included in the cost. Bloody Marys (sometimes two) in the morning, beer and burger at lunch, a couple frozen drinks around the pool in the afternoon. Wine and/or a pre dinner cocktail. At least a couple glasses of wine at dinner. An after dinner drink or drink at the show and perhaps a night cap. That happened every day and night for 12 days. Am now practicing Dry April.

We often book what you call "shoulder season" in late Nov/early Dec. I have a birthday in early Dec so it's a good excuse to cruise then with the low prices fewer passengers. I usually spend most of October & November hunting at the cabin roughing it. Come Dec I'm ready for some warm weather, service and getting reacquainted with the wife.

We finally booked our make up cruise from 2020. Iceland, Greenland, Nova Scotia to Boston on the Summit in August. Originally it left out of Ireland and we had a land tour scheduled there. So we're still going to Ireland first, then picking up the ship in Iceland.

Word now is that she is/was being used to quarantine covid infected cruise workers. Apparently she docked for a few hours yesterday to change crew members and then went right back out to anchor off shore.

FYI, the Rhapsody has been anchored off the coast of St. Maarten for the last couple of months at least. There are reports of her in January in that location. We saw her in early February a mile or two off shore. Looked pretty run down and unkept. Like a ghost ship. There has been recent reports and photos of her on other forums this week in the same location. One report was that her name was painted over but still visible. We went by her in February but I didn't see the name. Was curious but forgot to ask anyone on our ship at the time. Not sure what's happening.

I loaded up my tablet with TV shows/movies from Netflix and Prime for my 12 day cruise. Never took it out of my suitcase. Was never in the cabin long enough to watch even one. . Watched an in flight movie on the plane on the way down so didn't use it then either.

We booked a couple JSs when we got close to Diamond to get us there faster. When you consider we live 1500 miles from the port the JS double points cut the travel and expense in half. Ss are nice but we've since gone back to balconies and insides. It will take decades for us to reach D+ at 2-3 cruises a year so the points aren't a big thing anymore. I will say that the Coastal Kitchen was a nice experience.

Look up the Perfect Day at Coco Cay on your cruise planner. Lots of stuff to do there, pool, water parks, snorkeling, diving etc. etc. Some of it is free i.e, you can eat, lay on the beech, go snorkeling, walk around without having to pay for anything. Or you can go whole hog, rent a cabana, do the water parks etc, etc.

If is matters, we did the Oasis in December and two Celebrity ships since then. The menus in the MDR were virtually the same. The Oasis cruise was about half full. The food was good and the service was very good. The first X cruise was a smaller charter cruise. The service and food were sub par likely caused by the disruption of dining hours. The MDR was a madhouse. The last X cruise was about 2/3 full. Food and service were both pretty good... about what is was on the Oasis. I think some of the dissatisfaction with the food is that it's always the same. Same menu on the same day week in and week out on every ship. It would be good once i.e, first time. Kind of same/same boring the third time. Oh, the first world problems we have to contend with.

Quality varies ship to ship and cruise to cruise. Was on Allure in April 2019 and again in Dec '19. Food and service was marginal in April, better in Dec. Was on Oasis last Dec after a 2 year hiatus. I thought the food was better than on the Allure two years prior. Was on Celebrity Summit in Feb and Celebrity Equinox in March. Food was worse on the Summit than on the Oasis but better on the Equinox than the Summit. Pretty much the same menu on all the ships.

Yup, this....MDR food and service went down hill when they started pushing $pecialty dining.

I just read the John Hopkins study. It is full of terms like "may be more harmful" "studies suggest" etc. References to modified vaping devices and dangerous chemicals and those who vape THC products to get high. The study seems to suggest that introducing nicotine through vaping is dangerous but without mentioning the fact that you can buy vaping products with reduced or even no nicotine in them. Often used as a smoking cessation device. Bottom line is this...."Regular tobacco cigarettes contain 7,000 chemicals, many of which are toxic. While we don’t know exactly what chemicals are in e-cigarettes, Blaha says “There’s almost no doubt that vaping exposes you to fewer toxic chemicals than smoking traditional cigarettes.” So vaping might/may be dangerous but they "don't know exactly what chemicals are in e-cigarettes". Nicotine in e-cigs is bad even though you can reduce it to zero. "Studies suggest" but there is no facts to support how dangerous vaping might or might not be.

I only offered up the vaping thing because it is far less offensive and smelly that smoking. Perhaps if given the choice of vaping or not cruising most smokers would choose vaping as an alternative. PS. I don't think Disney is worried about smoker boycotts. When little Tommy and Mary want to go to Disney, mommy and daddy will take them regardless of the restrictions.

Appreciate your insight. Considering it's age, the Equinox is worn but not worn out. They were constantly cleaning and maintaining. Maybe it was just me/us but things on Celebrity just seemed to be a bit off in terms of quality of food, certainly activities. Understandable coming of the covid thing. I have to say that the crew were all very friendly and eager to please (except for the lemon thing in Oceanview ). It has to be exhausting keeping your spirits up doing 9 & 12 day back to back cruises. We were on the Summit in February for the Rock and Romance charter cruise. That's a completely different experience but the main dining room food and service were sub par. Even so we kind of preferred the Summit to the Equinox. The Ocean View cafe food was actually better and more variety on the Summit. We are back on the Summit in August for a 12 night Iceland, Greenland, Nova Scotia cruise. It will be interesting to see what difference there is between a charter and a regular cruise. And...I suspect you're right about X focusing on the Edge/Apex class ships. They are newer and are apparently cash cows. At some point we may try one but currently have no interest in them. I think one gets more value on the older, smaller, perhaps less popular ships.

I don't know about Kraken but most booze is cheaper on board and cheaper still in most Caribbean ports. We were looking at bourbon and it was about 4$ cheaper on board and up to 6$ cheaper in the ports we stopped at. BTW, the last two cruises we were on they allowed you to bring booze on board from the ports we stopped at. We bought a bottle back, opened it and drank it the rest of the cruise to supplement our diamond drinks. We didn't have (or need) a drink package.

Just got back from our 12 night Southern Caribbean cruise on the Equinox. Pretty much everything JeffB said in hid OP held true. A couple differences however.... -I heard different number for how many passengers there were on board. Some said we were at 60%, some said total passengers were 1550. You do the math. We booked this cruise in 2019. Following some of the other forums, dozens of people canceled in the last couple of weeks. There were also storms in Florida which delayed or canceled flights a day or two prior to the sailing. Did that affect the numbers? I don't know. -As I said we first booked this cruise in 2019 for 2020. We drove down to Florida for the 2020 cruise only to have it canceled on the Friday before it took off. We did get a really good deal on a interior, deck 3 cabin. We don't need anything fancy and a 12 nighter for a price we couldn't pass up, that's a win! Of course the cruise was canceled again in 2021. This time in 2022 it went and we were surprised when we got on board that we had been upgraded to a balcony on deck 8. We later checked and decks 3 & 6 were completely shut down and empty. So a balcony on deck 8 for the price of 2019 interior cabin on deck 3. No complaints there. There were a few minor issues. Some of our ship booked shore excursion tickets never made it/delivered to our cabin. We had to go down to customer relations twice where they insisted they were sent. They ended up reprinting them. We did get some excursion tickets inside our cabin the first day with our correct cabin number on them so it wasn't a cabin # issue. The invitation to the Captain's soiree along with a flower arrangement thanking us for being members of the Captain's Club was delivered to our cabin except it was delivered the day after the event. It was not a big deal but we are elite on X and it would have been nice to meet some of the ship's officers. Technical/mechanical issues prevented the ship from leaving the dock for about 12 hours. Consequently we didn't get to St. Croix (our first stop) on day 3 until 2 pm. Who'd of thunk they couldn't make it in 2 days? They ended up staying until 8pm. This forced us to change our private shore excursion. St. Croix was the only private excursion we booked. We got back to the ship at 6:40 pm. Technical issues cropped up several other times with only minor repercussions to the schedule. We never did learn what the issue was although one of the forward elevators was out and under repair for at least the first week. I don't think that would have caused the delayed departure. You can't do anything about the weather but it was cold and wet the two sea days going to St. Croix and then just wet most of the rest of the time in every port. We ate dinner in the main dinning room every night but two. We met a couple at the next table so looked forward to seeing them every night. The only times we missed was when our excursion didn't get back in time on St. Croix (we had 6 pm seating) or we were just too tired to dress for dinner. Service was okay, not as good as I remember it. We had to go looking for/ask for the salt and pepper every night even though the dining room was never more than half full. It became a running "Where's Waldo" (salt and pepper) joke every night. It's not like the waiters were busy. Often times we were the only two tables occupied in the whole area. A pet peeve was the lack of lemon slices at the drink stations in the Ocean View. For those of us who drink tea, iced tea and water by the glass with our meals a slice of lemon is appreciated. I noticed no lemon at the cafe in the solarium and the mast grill the first couple of days as well. When I mentioned it to a supervisor of those areas the lemon showed up the next day. I must have asked a half a dozen officers in charge in the Ocean View and never did see any. Some wrote my suggestion down, some just shrugged their shoulders, some looked at me with an uncomprehending stare. One suggested going to "station 4" for lemon. I never did find out what/where "station 4" was. We were on the Summit 3 weeks prior to this cruise and lemon was out everywhere every day. Also because of the lack of passengers only about half of the food stations in the Ocean View were open at any given time but that just makes sense. Smoking on board was another pet peeve. It was allowed at the sunset bar at the rear of the ship as well as along the lawn on the port side rear. It was also allowed at the Mast Bar, starboard side forward. You couldn't walk completely around the upper deck without smelling smoke. Fortunately it wasn't allowed in the casino so didn't stink up the interior. I've mentioned this before, ban smoking, allow vaping on board. Rant off We were on the Equinox for the first Mardi Gras cruise in 2017. We really liked the ship back then. 5 years later it is looking a little worse for wear. Upholstery and carpets are worn and frayed not to mention the mechanical issues. This was the longest cruise we've taken. Previously a 9 nighter (Mardi Gra) was the longest we did. The itinerary was excellent, would do it again.

Vapor contains as much or as little nicotine as you want. It's an effective way of cutting back dependence on nicotine or weaning off it completely. Inhaling smoke from burning substances is where the danger of smoking lies, not from nicotine. There are none of those substances in vapor. I suspect that if you look at who funded those vape studies you'll find the tobacco companies behind them. The record is still out on whether vaporized glycerine (the active ingredient in vapor) is dangerous.